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My husband is currently considering several job offers. One is in DC (near the White House). We have one son who need accommodations in school (specifically, he is dyslexic and needs extra time on tests, the use of a computer to take notes during class and not to be penalized for spelling mistakes. We strongly prefer walkable neighborhoods and a short commute for my husband - I can work from anywhere. We would like to spend less than $1,200,000 on a home. The numbers on Great Schools do not help me understand the character of a school. While we value academic excellence, we also need a kind, nurturing place that understand we do not all fit in the same box. He will be in 8th grade, so I am interested specifically in high schools and middle school recommendations. Many thanks for your time.
My husband is currently considering several job offers. One is in DC (near the White House). We have one son who need accommodations in school (specifically, he is dyslexic and needs extra time on tests, the use of a computer to take notes during class and not to be penalized for spelling mistakes. We strongly prefer walkable neighborhoods and a short commute for my husband - I can work from anywhere. We would like to spend less than $1,200,000 on a home. The numbers on Great Schools do not help me understand the character of a school. While we value academic excellence, we also need a kind, nurturing place that understand we do not all fit in the same box. He will be in 8th grade, so I am interested specifically in high schools and middle school recommendations. Many thanks for your time.
Look into Bethesda. I will leave it at that. You have the budget to afford a house there, the best schools in the area are there (including for kids with disabilities), and there are neighborhoods which are walkable with a nice downtown area. Also your husbands commute will not be too bad.
You can afford it, in that respect you are lucky.
Northern Arlington would also be a good option.
Great Schools scoring methodology is a bit to ideologically driven. You are right to ignore it.
Sidwell Friends comes to mind. It is hard to get into.
I think you are going to have to individually speak with school administrators about what they can offer your child. Your budget gives you some flexibility on location.
Sidwell Friends comes to mind. It is hard to get into.
I think you are going to have to individually speak with school administrators about what they can offer your child. Your budget gives you some flexibility on location.
Sidwell would be our first choice, but I am certain we can't afford it and pretty sure our kids wouldn't get in. We need a good public option.
Look into Bethesda. I will leave it at that. You have the budget to afford a house there, the best schools in the area are there (including for kids with disabilities), and there are neighborhoods which are walkable with a nice downtown area. Also your husbands commute will not be too bad.
You can afford it, in that respect you are lucky.
Northern Arlington would also be a good option.
Great Schools scoring methodology is a bit to ideologically driven. You are right to ignore it.
Not to derail, but since the OP is asking about schools for children with disabilities, which Bethesda schools are geared towards those with disabilities? I am also considering a move to the area, and while my son isn't yet school age, he has some delays I'm hoping will be worked out before he begins school. In case they aren't, I'd love to know of his options.
Not to derail, but since the OP is asking about schools for children with disabilities, which Bethesda schools are geared towards those with disabilities? I am also considering a move to the area, and while my son isn't yet school age, he has some delays I'm hoping will be worked out before he begins school. In case they aren't, I'd love to know of his options.
Wealthy, well funded, public schools tend to treat kids with disabilities better because they have the funds to do so. They also tend to be more understanding as a result.
Wealthy, well funded, public schools tend to treat kids with disabilities better because they have the funds to do so. They also tend to be more understanding as a result.
Is that true? I've heard the opposite. I've heard they often get swept aside moreso in those schools because the school is more focused on ratings than other schools. I genuinely don't know. I don't have firsthand experience yet, just sharing what I seem to hear.
Is that true? I've heard the opposite. I've heard they often get swept aside moreso in those schools because the school is more focused on ratings than other schools. I genuinely don't know. I don't have firsthand experience yet, just sharing what I seem to hear.
Wealthy schools in general care a great deal LESS about state test scores than poor schools. So this is where you are wrong. They don't get swept aside because they are focused on ratings. On the contrary, they are usually more invested in those kids because those kids parents are wealthier, and have far more political pull as a result. In addition those parents are usually more involved in the IEP process and have the money for legal resources to navigate it. This leads to more cooperative schools. So yeah..huge advantages come from being in a wealthy school district.
Whatever you heard was wrong. The privilege of wealth even extends to their disabled kids.
Schools such as Sidwell, Landon, Cathedral, Holton etc. in the DC area are hardly "kind"; they tend to be very cuttroat and competitive. Been there, done that so don't tell me it's not true.
Wealthy schools in general care a great deal LESS about state test scores than poor schools. So this is where you are wrong. They don't get swept aside because they are focused on ratings. On the contrary, they are usually more invested in those kids because those kids parents are wealthier, and have far more political pull as a result. In addition those parents are usually more involved in the IEP process and have the money for legal resources to navigate it. This leads to more cooperative schools. So yeah..huge advantages come from being in a wealthy school district.
Whatever you heard was wrong. The privilege of wealth even extends to their disabled kids.
Our son attended a poorly funded public school in Atlanta for one year. We have survivors guilt. There was no reading specialist. Fortunately, could afford outside testing, as the wait time for testing was almost a year. When we offered to help fund a reading specialist in lieu of paying private school tuition, they told us our son was the only dyslexic kid in the entire school, so a reading specialist was not a priority. Statistically, that is impossible.They were just trying to do what they could with very limited resources, which has hard when 1/3 of kids did not speak English. They did not have any margin to meet our son's needs. They offered him a few minutes a day with a woman who specialized in Down's Syndrome. She was a really nice person, but had no specific training on reading instruction.
After that year, our son attended a school for kids with dyslexia. He had two teachers for his class of 8 kids and they worked intensively on basic phonics. He did that for two years. It was tons of work and not much fun. He could not read until 4th grade, but now reads in the 95th percentile. I wonder what would have happened to him had we stayed on the public school path without this intervention. I wonder what will happen to the kids who could not afford to go to a school equipped to handle their struggles. Malcolm Gladwell says that dyslexics either end up as CEOs or prisoners. I believe him. Scary when 10-20 percent of the population are dyslexic.
So - now our son can read. He just needs a bit of extra time and some other basic accommodations. I need a place that will work with him. He will be coming from a Sidwell type private school. While it may be cut throat, it has been much easier to navigate than an underfunded public school. Having said that, we are hopeful that we can find a public school that is willing to work with him. His situation is not all that rare, or expensive to address. Thanks everyone for your thoughts.
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